Harvey admits better team won

Mark McCarry in first half action for Glencairn against Cumbernauld United (Image: Peter Ferguson/Rutherglen Glencairn)

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Glens boss Willie Harvey conceded the better team won in Cumbernauld on Saturday.

The Glens played their first league fixture in months when they took on Cumbernauld United and lost 4-0, as they look to climb up the table once more.

Months of Scottish Cup postponements have left the Glens with a huge fixture backlog, with the weekend game finally taking them to the half way stage.

Willie said: “There’s absolutely no excuses - on the day we just weren’t good enough. Cumbernauld deserved their victory.

“The four goals we lost were all from set-pieces, which aren’t normally the type of goals we lose.

“For me, that’s totally unacceptable.

“Generally we defend that kind of stuff well, and it’s very out of character for us to concede like that, let alone four in one game.”

The Glens were struggling to pull together a side for Saturday’s game.

Willie admitted: “We had a lot of people missing through work commitments and injury.

“A lot of people seem to think we’ve got a big squad, but there’s 20 there, and if you take the goalkeepers out of the equation, then it’s 18 players, then when you take into account the players who were missing, that number comes right down again.

“We’ve brought players in, and released others, which some people don’t seem to take account of when they think about our squad.”

Willie was frustrated that some cheating from the opposition saw midfielder Derek Esplin shown the red card.

He explained: “I was very disappointed in the referee over the sending off. The Cumbernauld player was a disgrace as he conned the referee.

“He was making out that he had been elbowed in the face by Del Esplin, which wasn’t the case. It was right in front of us - Del put his arm across the lad’s chest, and he went down, and all the ref saw was the boy holding his face.

“I’m very disappointed in their player - it was a deliberate attempt to get a man sent off, as Del had been booked in the first half.”

Willie has added to his playing pool with the signing of influential midfielder Derek Hewitt, who was part of last season’s second division title-winning squad at Cambuslang Rangers.

He joins Mark Bishop, Thomas Kilmartin and Jamie MacLeod at the Clyde Gateway Stadium, who were all part of the successful Lang side last year.

Willie said: “Derek Hewitt was someone we were interested in last season.

“When we found out that he was back from India and available to sign, he was quite happy to join us.

“He’s nowhere near fit at the moment, and, to be honest, if we had a fully fit squad he wouldn’t even have been on the bench on Saturday, let alone getting on the park.

The Glens host Thorniewood United at the Clyde Gateway Stadium, before facing Shotts Bon Accord away on Saturday, then entertain Kilsyth Rangers to Rutherglen on Monday.

Willie said: “Thorniewood are a tough one. They always started off slowly, then they have a wee run, they have a few games without a result, and then get it going again, so we’re getting ready for a hard game.

“I’m hoping we can have a strong team available with Andy Neil back in our defence, after being missing for the last three weeks, and I hope to have Ross Ballantyre back too.

“It’s going to be a tough few games, but if we can get the guys back in the team, we don’t fear anyone.

“On Saturday, we had to change our formation to a 3-4-3, which was alien to us, but was dictated by the players we had available, and didn’t have a lot of changes available to us.

“The Shotts game will be a difficult one as they’re going well at the top, but I know their manager well, Tam McDonald, who’s from King’s Park.

“I’m having them watched when they play Kilsyth, who we’ve still to play too, so hopefully we can get some useful information that might highlight a weakness or two for us, which we will be able to take advantage of.

“And playing Kilsyth is never an easy proposition either.”

The Glens will then face Vale of Leven in a cup tie next Wednesday night.

Willie said: “It’s absolutely ridiculous asking us to go down there in midweek. The guys won’t finish work until 5pm, and the roads are so busy then.

“I can’t fathom that one out.

“You can’t properly prepare for a game like that or get a good team out.

“Our boys who used to play for Cambuslang were saying they were used to it, as they always had to play down there midweek at the end of the season.”